The Australian Chamber Orchestra is surely one of the most exciting ensembles currently performing; their instrument collection is unrivaled and their onstage energy is electric.

It is no surprise, then, that its evening of Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, alongside a world premiere and an Australian premiere lights up the Hamer Hall 

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams’ Horizon opens the evening. This world premiere is influenced by his friend Barry Lopez’s book of the same name, an epic collection of essays and observations on the natural world. Luther Adams – a keen environmental activist – explores the horizon both as a line encircling the Earth and as a dark future shaped by climate decline.

He builds a soundscape from a single double bass, adding instruments one by one to a low-burning, immersive canvas of sound. Each instrument adds a layer to the terrain, creating a hypnotic rumble evocative of an Australian landscape. It is largely effective: the music is undeniably atmospheric. However, the work’s restraint occasionally tips into inertia and risks losing momentum over its extended span.

Australian Chamber Orchestra: Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody. Photo © Charlie Kinross

The rest of the programme is spectacular. Raminta Šerkšnyte’s De Profundis feels right at home in between Stravinsky’s Basle concerto and the Rachmaninoff. Like the Luther Adams, this music is an exploration of landscape – this time of the composer’s home, Lithuania – but unlike Luther Adams, Šerkšnyte’s piece is filled with contrast, energy shifts and drama. 

The ways in which the ACO players engage with one another on stage gives another extraordinary structure and shape the music they perform. In the Stravinsky, one can see how the melody is passed between players, each exchange made visible through gesture and physical proximity. The music’s angular rhythms and neo-classical clarity dance, buoyed by the ensemble’s kinetic communication.

Australian Chamber Orchestra and Dejan Lazić: Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody. Photo © Charlie Kinross

Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody – arranged for strings and percussion by Bernard Rofe – brings the evening to a triumphant close. Pianist Dejan Lazić is an exuberant presence on stage: with no conductor, his interactions with the musicians around him are playful and collaborative. 

The ACO’s trademark transparency allows Rachmaninoff’s orchestration to shine, revealing inner voices and subtle harmonic shifts that are often obscured in larger symphonic performances. The famous variations unfolds with elegance and inevitability, the lush romanticism given room to bloom without tipping into excess.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra performs Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody at City Recital Hall, Sydney (10, 11 & 14 February), Sydney Opera House (15 February), Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane (16 February) and Llewellyn Hall, Canberra (18 February). For information and bookings, visit this link.